It depends on how many people buy. If the same number of people buy into this system who were previously buying into the original genie+ system then the same number of slots will be used unless under the original people regularly only got to 2 rides a day or less which should not have been the case on any but the busiest days. Under FP+ everyone booked 3 rides a day but I would assume far less people will participate in this.
On one hand, convenience increases demand. That’s just a psychological part of life. So the people who were turned off by 7AM, or waking up every day, or not knowing how many “good” rides you would actually get at a time that would work for your family, can potentially be buyers.
However, the real problem is that even with tiers, there are going to be pinch points. The most in demand rides, with the lowest capacities. Once those spots are allocated, things get messy real quick for anyone else.
Currently, at park opening, a person can’t simultaneously be holding a LL for Slinky Dog at 2pm, Tower of Terror at 10am and TSMM at 11am. Soon they will be able to, which will have an effect on other theoretical LL users. There is now one fewer spots for TOT and TSMM. Multiply that out 1000s of times. A LL user whose #1 attraction is NOT Slinky Dog, could be pretty confident they would get a decent return time in the current system, this makes it harder because people with 14 day, on-site stays might have already grabbed it before they even had a chance. The effect will to be to turn more attractions into the rapidly disappearing slots situation of Slinky Dog.
Basically, current: everyone not wanting the top demand attraction should have success with their Ride #1 selection. And because their return times were probably earlier than the people holding a LL for the top demand ride, they got first crack at Ride #2. Soon: people successfully achieving access to the top demand ride (by booking early) will also succeed in getting a good ride #2, and #3. Classic “the rich get richer.” But their newfound wealth came at someone else’s expense because ToT and TSMM weren’t dispatching empty seats.
Or an imperfect analogy, they are turning a snake fantasy sports draft where in a 10 team league, the person with the 10th pick also gets the 11th, and 1st gets the 20th. And turning it into a system where the person picking #1 overall (onsite 14 day trip person) is also first to pick 2 more players. If your the 10th pick (theoretical 3-day, or ‘day of’ selector) 30 players will be off the board before you can pick even one.
The key for Disney is how does this affect satisfaction scores. IMO, a small amount of people will be super happy because they got everything, more or less when they wanted it, while everyone else will unhappily be looking at a pile of mismatched puzzle pieces.
) — and the more I think about it, the more this system helps AK because you can actually book 3 good attractions (if it’s far enough out in your trip). I am overall grateful this change is being implemented before our August trip, but also feeling like there’s a short runway and limited time to figure out how to work the new FP+/Genie+ hybrid monster, and it’s completely blown up my plan of stacking LLs for an evening visit.
www.wdwmagic.com
